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Sat, 01 Aug 2015 02:01:49 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.6All You Need to Know About Alesundhttp://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/things-to-do-in-alesund-norway/
http://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/things-to-do-in-alesund-norway/#commentsThu, 30 Jul 2015 23:39:53 +0000http://www.dangerous-business.com/?p=20003Here’s the thing you need to know about Norway: no matter where you go in the country, you are pretty much guaranteed to find something awesome....

]]>Here’s the thing you need to know about Norway: no matter where you go in the country, you are pretty much guaranteed to find something awesome. Whether it’s amazing views or great food or just an outstanding, friendly community, Norway really has a lot going for it. No wonder this country is at the top of many travel bucket lists.

This was hit home for me as I traveled along Norway’s west coast, skipping the always-beloved Bergen and hitting up lesser-visited cities like Trondheim and Kristiansund instead.

And then I got to Ålesund. A city with a name that I didn’t even know how to pronounce properly and that I knew exactly nothing about.

I arrived late in the day after spending way too much time driving back and forth on the Atlantic Ocean Road. It was still light out though (helloooo midnight sun), which meant I could see the pretty buildings and cobbled streets of Ålesund’s main downtown area as I drove through. Not to mention that driving into town required driving along gorgeous fjords.

Yes, I had a feeling I was going to like this place.

This was cemented the next day, when I got to see Ålesund inside and out.

Some fun facts about this coastal city:

A massive fire in 1904 completely destroyed Ålesund’s city center. It was rebuilt a few years later almost entirely in the Art Nouveau style.

Ålesund is spread over 7 different islands in Norway’s Møre og Romsdal county, and most are connected via undersea tunnels.

Ålesund has always relied on fishing as its major industry. Today, Ålesund still provides a ton of cod and cod liver oil to Europe and the rest of the world.

In 2015, Disney Cruise Line partnered up exclusively with Ålesund tourism to offer guests a “Frozen” experience in the city – guests could join Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff for a special festival at the Sunnmøre Open Air Museum.

My time in Ålesund was, admittedly, far too short. But here’s a taste of what I got up to there:

Seeing Ålesund from above

If you only do one thing in Ålesund, make it be going up to the Aksla Viewpoint. You can reach this on foot by going up 418 steps, by taking the tourist train that toodles around town, or by using the hop-on, hop-off bus.

The views from the lookout are outstanding. It was drizzling slightly when I was up there, but the sun was out – meaning a rainbow soon appeared over the colorful city center below. Perfection.

If you have time, there’s a nice cafe up here where you can grab a coffee while you enjoy the view.

And, no matter how you get up there, I highly recommend walking the 418 steps back down into Town Park!

Exploring the Art Nouveau center

Like I mentioned earlier, most of Ålesund burned down during a January 1904 fire. When they rebuilt it a few years later, they did it in the Art Nouveau style of architecture, which incorporates natural forms and soft lines. You see this reflected in Ålesund’s buildings, many of which have flowers and other swirly shapes on their exteriors.

If you have time, pop into the city’s Art Nouveau museum, which is built inside an old pharmacy.

Visiting the aquarium

I’m picky about the zoos and aquariums I visit on my travels. The last thing I want to do is support a place where the animals are mistreated or simply “on display” as opposed to being properly cared for. I needn’t have worried in Ålesund, though.

The Atlantic Sea Park (Atlanterhavsparken) is one of the largest saltwater aquariums in Europe, and it’s an aquarium that does things right. The building is in a scenic area surrounded by hiking trails, mountains, and even a beach, and the aquarium pulls in fresh sea water directly from the ocean – nothing is treated here.

The focus is also on local and Norwegian sea life, with exhibits with names like “Deep Fjords,” “Ålesund Harbour,” and “Islets and skerries.” I spent some time at the touch-tanks with all the kids, as well as outside wandering around the 6,000-square-meter “seal park,” which is home to a handful of harbor seals that were born into captivity elsewhere in Europe. The seal park is entirely outdoors and feels like you’re just walking along the coast instead of within the grounds of an aquarium.

These seals sure do have a nice view!

Driving to Alnes

Since Ålesund is spread out across a few islands, I couldn’t really visit properly without doing some island hopping!

At the suggestion of a few people at the tourism office, I decided to drive to see the lighthouse in Alnes, a tiny isolated town on the island of Godøya. To get there, I had to drive through a couple undersea tunnels, and then a one-way tunnel to cut through a mountain on Godøya itself. (Talk about terrifying.)

When I came out on the other side, I was greeted with sweeping sea and island views. What a place!

The lighthouse and its little cafe were closed (I was there in May, which is still the off-season in most of Norway), but it didn’t matter. The sun was finally shining and the views were impressive enough to keep me there for half an hour.

If you have a rental car and some time, this is a great short trip from Ålesund, only taking about 30-40 minutes each way.

Ålesund is not a part of Norway I knew anything about before visiting. And, to be honest, if I had planned my own trip to Norway, Ålesund probably wouldn’t have made my final itinerary, despite it being on the fjord parallel to the famous Geirangerfjord. And what a shame that would have been!

Ålesund is a great city, and definitely deserves a detour if you happen to be in this part of Norway.

WHERE I STAYED

I stayed at the First Hotel Atlantica, which is located within walking distance of most of Ålesund’s main sights. It’s also really close to the highway, and there’s a shopping center/parking garage right next door in case you have a car with you.

Is Ålesund a city that will make YOUR Norway itinerary now?

*Note: Big thanks to Innovation Norway and Fjord Norway, along with the local tourism board, for hosting me during my visit. As always, opinions and recommendations are 100% my own!

]]>http://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/things-to-do-in-alesund-norway/feed/85 Lessons From 5 Years of Travel Blogginghttp://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/5-lessons-from-5-years-of-blogging/
http://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/5-lessons-from-5-years-of-blogging/#commentsMon, 27 Jul 2015 20:51:35 +0000http://www.dangerous-business.com/?p=19887Five years ago, I was working full-time as a copy editor at a small, family-owned newspaper in northwest Ohio. I worked weird hours and...

]]>Five years ago, I was working full-time as a copy editor at a small, family-owned newspaper in northwest Ohio. I worked weird hours and spent a lot of time making rectangles in InDesign and filling them with teeny tiny newsprint. I didn’t *hate* this job by any means (I mean, I liked the people I worked with, and it was kinda fun to know what was going to be “in the news” the night before it was printed). But I also knew that it wasn’t what I wanted to do until retirement.

Somewhere along the way, I decided I needed a hobby. A way to fill my downtime at home (and, let’s be honest, at work too). So I started a travel blog.

For the first 5 months, I stumbled around and didn’t really write much. I wasn’t good at the whole blogging thing. But then, in July 2010, I decided to buy a domain name and really put effort into making my travel blog a blog that people would actually want to read.

And somehow (I’m still trying to figure out how), it worked.

In the past year alone, more than 860,000 people have visited my site. THAT’S INCREDIBLE! I’m still amazed each and every time I look at my site stats that so many people care enough about what I’m doing to come here and read about it.

So thank you for that. Truly.

Since that fateful day in July 2010, a lot in my life has changed. I quit my job. I got my master’s degree. I tried the whole “digital nomad” thing and figured out that it was an awful fit for me. I came back to Ohio and moved in with a guy. I started freelancing a lot, and then got a part-time job at a social media startup.

These days, I do my best to balance working from home with traveling (and, you know, having relationships and being a cat mom). It isn’t always easy – and I certainly don’t always succeed – but I’m definitely at a point now where I can look at things and go, “Yeah, I could keep doing this for the rest of my life.”

Last year, I shared some of my best adventures in my four-year blogiversary post (and you can now find a very similar timeline on my About Me page). But this year, I want to share with you some of the things I’ve learned from being a travel blogger for half a decade.

5 Lessons From 5 Years of Travel Blogging

1. Do whatever the hell you want – just own it

When I first started out as a travel blogger, I literally had no clue what I was doing. I knew how to write, but I was clueless when it came to website management and social media and SEO and everything else. I didn’t even know it was possible to make money from a travel blog, or that eventually I would be able to approach tourism boards about working with them on media trips.

I was a newb, and I often felt like it.

I would frequently turn to fellow travel bloggers with questions. I joined Facebook groups and went to conferences and read everything that everybody else had to say about travel and blogging.

But there came a point when I realized that you can’t listen to everyone – and sometimes what works for one person just isn’t going to work for you.

The longer I’ve been blogging, the more I have realized that everyone starts at square one, but that eventually you reach a point where you have to stop listening to all the other voices, follow your gut, and do whatever the hell you want.

If you want to only travel in Europe or just write about travel hookups or decide not to have a niche at all (even though everyone will tell you how important they are), do it. Do whatever feels right for you, because that’s how your voice will become its strongest and most authentic. Just be bold and confident and OWN whatever it is you decide to do.

For the most part, the travel blogging community is incredibly helpful and supportive. But you will always have people trying to tell you what the “right” way to do something is, or people judging you if you travel or write differently than they do. Screw ‘em. Do what you want, own what you do, and I promise your blog will be better for it.

2. Don’t expect everyone to love you or what you write

No matter how awesome you think you are (and c’mon, we all think we’re awesome, right?), there will be people out there who disagree with you, find you annoying, or who are just plain mean and have way too much free time on their hands. Internet trolls are real, and you’ll definitely meet your fair share as a blogger.

Putting yourself out there fully on social media takes some courage, and will require you to develop a thicker skin. Because, no matter who you are or how you look, there are going to be trolls out there who will try to bring you down (just ask my friend Liz).

You’ll have people call you fat in your Facebook photos. Have people call you a spoiled rich white girl on your blog posts. Have people tell you that that 2,000-word post that took you a week to write is shit.

Anybody who puts anything out into the public sphere has to be thick-skinned to some extent. But, for bloggers, I think this is even more important. You’re *always* publishing your opinions, and you’re publishing them often and purposefully promoting them all across the Internet.

I’m not saying that the trolling or ignorant comments are warranted. But as a blogger you just kind of have to get used to them, and learn how to brush them off. (Because you’re awesome, remember?)

3. Comparison really IS the thief of joy

Unlike some of my fellow travel bloggers out there, I’m not a full-time traveler. The digital nomad thing didn’t work out for me, and I decided that having a home base and steady income was more important to me than traveling constantly.

So, sometimes, when I see what others are doing on social media and on their blogs, I get a major case of the FOMOs. I second-guess my decisions, scrutinize my blog, and suffer bouts of self-doubt over whether what I’m doing is cool enough to keep people interested.

And, though I’m not proud to admit it, this happens sometimes when I AM traveling, too. I’ll wonder why I wasn’t invited on that sweet press trip or to join that social media campaign, only to have to remind myself that I’m already in New Zealand or Norway or Vietnam or somewhere else really freaking cool.

When you do what I do, it’s incredibly easy to start comparing yourself to others who are doing the same thing. And it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that what you’re already doing is AMAZING and that other people would kill to do it, too.

Comparison really IS the thief of joy, especially when you’re a travel blogger. And why would you want to rob yourself of the joy of discovery just because you’re comparing your own travels to someone else’s? It’s dumb.

I’m not saying it won’t happen (I’ve definitely had to give myself a reality check a few times) – I’m just saying that you shouldn’t let it make you jaded about what you’re actually doing.

4. You’ll travel differently than other people

Here’s the thing about becoming a travel blogger: you have to learn to do a lot of random things that you probably never expected to have to learn how to do. Yes, there’s the whole writing and running a website part. But you’ll also find yourself learning things about photography and video editing and Instagramming and tweeting and optimizing your blog posts for Google.

All of this will change how you live your life – and change how you travel.

Now, when you’re on the road, you’ll be live tweeting and Snapchatting and taking the perfect Instagram snaps. You’ll go to new destinations with blog post topics in mind. You’ll take photos of things you never would have taken photos of before because you might need them for a post (like your food or the room you’re sleeping in). You’ll spend nights editing photos and answering emails instead of going out for drinks.

Basically, you’ll start traveling like a blogger instead of just an ordinary holiday-maker.

This DOES make a difference. You’ll have to remind yourself to put down your phone, take your camera away from your face, and actually SEE the places you’re visiting.

And, if at some point you stop loving it or feel like you’ve lost the spark that you used to have for travel, then that’s the point when it’s time to reevaluate things. This type of travel definitely isn’t for everyone!

5. Accept that you’ll get out as much as you put in

One of my biggest pet peeves about travel bloggers is that we are, in general, a bunch of cheap asses. And ridiculously impatient.

New bloggers especially want everything (the social media followers, the pageviews, the free press trips) overnight – but they don’t want to spend a cent to get there.

If only I had a dollar for every time I saw a post in a blogger Facebook group bemoaning the cost of web hosting or a site redesign or a new social media tool. And don’t even get me STARTED on the travel bloggers who feel they are entitled to press trips and free travel simply because they started a travel blog last month.

If you just want to have a hobby blog and write occasionally about your vacations, that’s absolutely FINE! I have nothing against that. But if you come into travel blogging (or decide after doing it for a few years) that you want to make money from it and work with travel brands/tourism boards, then you have to be prepared to start treating it like a business.

And treating something like a business means investing both time AND money in it.

Sometimes that means investing in gear that will make blogging easier.

You’ll have to pay for that new theme and that social media tool and that pricey plugin that will keep your site from getting hacked. You’ll have to shell out for better hosting and a new laptop and maybe some professional photos of yourself. And yes, you’ll have to pay for (most of) your own travel, especially in the beginning.

And, even then, it may take YEARS before you have the social media followers and the pageviews and the press trips offers. Building an engaged audience isn’t something that happens overnight – and trying to find cheap ways to get there faster won’t help you stand out to anyone in the travel industry.

Travel Blog Success Sale

If you want to start out (and continue) on the right foot, then you have to invest in staying educated about what’s happening in the blogging world. I’ve been at this blogging thing for 5 years now, and yet I’m STILL learning new things every single week.

A good place to start is with Travel Blog Success, which is one of the most comprehensive travel blogger programs I’ve come across. It’s a 6-module blogging course broken up into 27 lessons, covering everything from content creation to driving traffic to making money from your blog to how to keep things running when you’re on the road. You also get access to an amazingly useful Facebook group (seriously, this group alone is worth the cost of the course!), free webinars, and some special perks only available to TBS members.

If you’ve ever contemplated taking your blog to the next level, then now is the perfect time to take advantage and do it. Get started now!

(And yes, if you buy through my affiliate link I’ll get a commission from your sign-up. But I legit think TBS is awesome – and I’ll see you around in the Facebook group!)

A final thank you

Lastly, I just want to say thank you yet again (yes, YOU reading this post) for coming along with me on this 5-year journey, whether you’ve been reading since Day 1 or just stopped by for the first time today. If not for YOU, this blog wouldn’t exist. And I would be very sad.

So thanks for helping me not be very sad.

As we head into year 6, I want to know what you want to get from my blog! What would you like to see more (or less) of?

]]>http://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/5-lessons-from-5-years-of-blogging/feed/465 Middle Earth Locations You Can Visit in Real Lifehttp://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/5-middle-earth-locations-you-can-visit-in-real-life/
http://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/5-middle-earth-locations-you-can-visit-in-real-life/#commentsThu, 23 Jul 2015 23:06:59 +0000http://www.dangerous-business.com/?p=19965For a long time, it was only possible to visit J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth through imagination. Traveling to the Shire and Rivendell and the realm...

]]>For a long time, it was only possible to visit J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth through imagination. Traveling to the Shire and Rivendell and the realm of Gondor was only possible if you closed your eyes and let your mind wander as you read The Lord of the Rings.

But then Peter Jackson filmed his trilogy and transformed New Zealand into Middle-Earth.

Even though Tolkien created the legends and histories (and languages) of Middle-Earth to serve as the mythology that he felt England was missing, it only takes a few days in New Zealand to second-guess the good professor. Because New Zealand pretty much IS Middle-Earth, brought to life straight off the page.

And, the good news for LOTR fans is that many iconic places from Tolkien’s stories can be visited for real in New Zealand.

Here are five Middle-Earth locations you can visit “for real”:

Hobbiton

The most recognizable location is Hobbiton — the movie set in Matamata in New Zealand’s Waikato district that was used during filming of both the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movie trilogies. The set was mostly torn down after the Lord of the Rings movies, but it still drew fans wanting to see what was left. So, when they rebuilt the set for The Hobbit, they built it to last.

Today, Hobbiton really does feel like a place where hobbits could be hiding behind every round door or colorful bush. The attention to detail is incredible and makes Hobbiton a fun place to visit even if you aren’t a fan.

How to get there: You’ll have to book a tour of the Hobbiton movie set in order to see it. These tours aren’t cheap, but I promise it’s worth it! Book directly with Hobbiton Tours in Matamata, or book a day trip from Auckland with Red Carpet Tours.

Must-do: After your tour, be sure to visit the Green Dragon pub for a pint of hobbit-inspired ale (or ginger beer). The pub was built with tourism in mind, but the details here are just as intricate as on the movie set.

Edoras

If you’ve ever seen The Two Towers (the second Lord of the Rings film), you’ll remember Edoras. It’s the capital of Rohan, land of the horselords, where a pale and sad Eowyn can often be seen standing outside the Golden Hall of Meduseld, her hair blowing forlornly in the wind.

You might also remember that this location is EPIC. And I’m happy to report that it’s 100% real.

This is probably my favorite film location in New Zealand, simply because the best parts – the wide valley and the snow-capped mountains – are all real. No CGI required here, people. Even though the set itself is gone now, there’s no imagination required to picture this as Rohan. It’s almost as if Tolkien had seen a photo of Mount Sunday before he began writing about Edoras.

How to get there: Getting to Mount Sunday (the hill that the Edoras set was built on) requires about a 2-hour drive from Christchurch, and a bit of know-how in order to find the road that leads to Methven and Mt. Potts. I’d suggest driving yourself (and maybe staying overnight at the Mt Potts Lodge) or booking a day tour from Christchurch with Hassle-Free Tours.

Must-do: Climb Edoras, of course! There’s a small gravel parking lot and then a well-marked trail that will lead you to the top of Mount Sunday. The hike only takes about 30 minutes one-way. Pack a picnic to eat at the top if it’s not too windy on the day you go!

Trollshaws

If you watched the new Hobbit movies, you’ll remember the scene (which was also a favorite of mine in the book) where Bilbo and the company of dwarves get captured and nearly eaten by a trio of trolls. This scene was filmed in a very unique corner of New Zealand known as Piopio, which is known for its limestone cliffs.

The filming took place on a farm owned by Suzie and Warrick Denize, who have now started a tour company to show people around the filming location. The couple are really passionate about telling their story and the tour through the wild, mossy forest on their farm is pretty cool.

How to get there: As you drive south of Auckland past Hamilton and Waitomo on Highway 3, you’ll reach Piopio and see a brown road sign pointing down a twisty road that says “Hobbit Filming Location.” Follow this road and you’ll find Hairy Feet at the end. They run tours twice a day.

Must-do: Be sure to ask them if you can re-enact the scene in the cave where Bilbo is gifted with Sting and lays eyes on the blade for the first time.

Paths of the Dead

In Return of the King, Aragorn must walk the Paths of the Dead through the White Mountains in order to try to convince some undead dudes to fight with him in an upcoming battle. In the movie, most of the scenes inside the mountain were filmed on a set – but the part where Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are riding the Dimholt Road to get to the mountain passage was filmed on location in New Zealand.

This part of the Paths of the Dead can be found in Putangirua Pinnacles Scenic Reserve in New Zealand’s Wairarapa district. The Pinnacles are made up of ominous-looking gravelly hoodoos and do indeed feel rather creepy. If you walk far enough in and just stop and listen, you’ll hear rocks trickling down, seemingly from the sky. It’s a cool place for a hike whether or not you’ve ever seen a Lord of the Rings film.

How to get there: From Lake Ferry, you’ll need to drive about 13 kilometers along Cape Palliser Road to reach the scenic reserve. There are no tours that will take you here (and no mention of Lord of the Rings at the site at all, really), so you’ll need to have your own transport. There’s a campsite at the reserve if you decide to stay overnight.

Must-do: Hike up into the Pinnacles, of course! You can’t see the best bits from the parking lot.

Barrel River

In the second movie in the Hobbit trilogy (The Desolation of Smaug), Bilbo gets his “Barrel-Rider” nickname after stuffing the dwarves (and himself) into barrels and dumping them all into a river in order to escape from the wood elves. Much of this was filmed in a studio (if you haven’t seen the behind-the-scenes footage of this, I can highly recommend it), but parts of it were filmed on a real river in New Zealand.

The Pelorus River is located in Nelson near the top of the South Island. Seeing the river is cool, but if you really want to see things from Bilbo’s perspective, you’ll want to get ON the river. It’s possible to kayak here and stop at a few spots you might recognize from the film – plus the scenery is pretty awesome in general.

How to get there: I would go with Pelorus Eco Adventures, which offers a themed “Barrel Run” kayaking tour that’s easy and suitable for everyone.

Must-do: If someone in your party isn’t kayaking, have them take some shots of you on the river! Or take a GoPro along to capture your own photos.

These of course aren’t all the Middle-Earth-y locations that you can find in New Zealand. The whole country was used for filming, after all. But many of the other recognizable locations (like the Rohan plains and the Pelennor Fields) are located on private land and are therefore tough to get to on your own.

These five are all easily accessible by the public, though, and are some of the more iconic and cool locations that you can find!

]]>http://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/5-middle-earth-locations-you-can-visit-in-real-life/feed/18The Shortest Yet Most Epic Road Trip Everhttp://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/the-shortest-yet-most-epic-road-trip-ever/
http://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/the-shortest-yet-most-epic-road-trip-ever/#commentsTue, 21 Jul 2015 22:13:51 +0000http://www.dangerous-business.com/?p=19955The tunes were blasting from my iPhone (because no radio station would come in). The windows were wound down (though I was bundled up...

]]>The tunes were blasting from my iPhone (because no radio station would come in). The windows were wound down (though I was bundled up against the chilly wind). And I was ready to drive one of the coolest roads in the world.

Usually when you think “road trip,” you think of vast distances and open highways. Something like driving across the US, perhaps.

But one of the coolest road trips I’ve ever done only lasted for 8.3 kilometers.

This is the Atlanterhavsveien, or the Atlantic Ocean Road, a stretch of Road 64 in Norway between the towns of Molde and Kristiansund on Norway’s west coast. It was built in the 1980s and opened to the public in 1989. During its first 10 years it was a toll road – but today it’s part of the National Tourist Route and free to drive. Over and over and over.

Which is exactly what I did.

Driving the Atlantic Ocean Road (or Atlantic Highway, depending on who you ask) was the part of my Norway trip that I had been looking forward to the most. Because, sure, it’s just over 5 miles long – but it’s EPIC.

Eight bridges connect tiny little islands dotted along Norway’s Atlantic coast, with the most famous (and photographable) being the Storseisundet Bridge, which curves high over the sea at a dizzying angle.

I may or may not have driven over it three times…

I’ve seen photos of this road in all types of weather (including with waves crashing over even the highest bridges), but luckily the weather gods decided to gift me with patches of sun and some dramatic clouds for my adventure.

(Sure, the adventurous part of me was kind of hoping for those crazy waves, but the rational part of me was thankful for good weather!)

My adventure started in Kristiansund that morning, after a boat trip to Grip out in the Atlantic. I had no plans for the day except to drive from Kristiansund to Alesund. If you Google this route, Google will tell you that the drive should take about three hours, and the suggested route will probably include highway E39. But this is NOT the route you want to take.

Instead, you want to set your sights on Rv64 if you want to drive the Atlantic Ocean Road.

And you’ll definitely want to allow for more time than what Google suggests.

Even though the Atlantic Highway is only 8.3 kilometers long, I drove nearly the whole thing three times, partly because it was really fun and partly because I wanted to get different photos and video clips each time.

This meant that I didn’t really have time to stop anywhere else on the way to Alesund – but I can’t say I really cared.

This was definitely a highlight of my trip to Norway – and something I definitely hope to do again!

Is this a road trip YOU would enjoy?

*Note: Big thanks to Fjord Norway for helping out with this part of my trip! As always, though, opinions are 100% my own.

]]>http://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/the-shortest-yet-most-epic-road-trip-ever/feed/21Adventures in the Pyreneeshttp://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/adventures-in-the-pyrenees/
http://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/adventures-in-the-pyrenees/#commentsSun, 19 Jul 2015 17:54:19 +0000http://www.dangerous-business.com/?p=19904In some ways, I’m actually a pretty terrible traveler. Traveling on and off for years, I’ve become complacent about certain things. Sure, I’ve learned...

Traveling on and off for years, I’ve become complacent about certain things. Sure, I’ve learned how to pack better, how to find travel deals, and how to take better photos. But, the more I travel, the more I find myself going to new places after having done *very* little research on them.

A lot of times, this is actually great, though. Going in with few expectations means I have positive experiences far more often than negative ones.

Case in point: Spain.

Sure, I knew I would be eating tapas and seeing great architecture like Gaudi works in Barcelona, Plaza de Espana in Seville, and the Alhambra in Granada. But, outside of the major city sights, I had very few expectations about what I would see and do in Spain.

Which is probably why my mind was BLOWN when I went on a post-conference press trip to the Pyrenees.

The Pyrenees mountain range forms a border between France and Spain. I got to spend a couple days in the mountains in the Lleida province of the Catalunya region of Spain. (Though, of course, locals will tell you it’s not really Spain! But my map says it’s Spain, so we’ll stick with that to make things less confusing…)

This part of Spain was SO different to what I knew I would find in cities like Seville and Barcelona. It was much more remote. Much more mountainous. And much more beautiful than I ever expected.

Three days in Lleida wasn’t nearly enough time to really experience all the adventures the Pyrenees have to offer, but it at least gave me a nice taste – and convinced me that I absolutely have to go back.

Here’s a taste of what I got up to:

Gorge exploring

I suppose, with the Pyrenees being a mountain range and all, I shouldn’t have been so surprised by the landscapes in this part of Spain. But I absolutely was.

Our first adventure was a boat tour through the Mont-Rebei Gorge with Montsec Activa. Located near the small town of Ager, I think it’s safe to say that this spot blew us all away – which is saying something when “us” is a group of travel bloggers who have seen cool things literally all around the world.

At first we were bummed that we weren’t kayaking through the gorge (which was in our original itinerary), but it turned out for the best. Being in a speed boat meant that we got to see some much more of the scenery.

There’s a hiking trail here, hewn into the rock high above the water and connected by precarious-looking steps hanging off the rock face. I would love to go back someday and hike it (and that’s something coming from me, a self-professed non-hiker).

Hiking in a national park

Our first stop the next day was Aigüestortes i Estany of Saint Maurici National Park (a mouthful, I know). This is one of 15 national parks in Spain – and the only one in Catalunya. The park is unique in that the only way in is on foot. You can drive to one of the park entrances, but there’s no road (and therefore no vehicles) inside the park itself.

We took off on foot for an easy “hike” around one of the park’s more than 300 lakes.

Yet again, the landscapes here blew me away. Even though I’m neither a hiker nor camper, I can absolutely understand why many people buy 5-day park passes here and pay to overnight in the park’s lodges (there’s no camping allowed here either).

UNESCO church hopping

Even though most of us would have enjoyed staying in the park longer, we left the park around lunchtime and spent the afternoon church-hopping.

Yes, church-hopping.

In this part of Spain (and in the Vall de Boi especially), you can find Romanesque churches dotted in nearly every mountain village. These churches are recognized collectively as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, being recognized for their art and architecture.

My favorite church was probably Sant Climent de Taüll, which originally held a magnificent Romanesque fresco. The majority of the fresco was removed in the early 1900s (you can now see it in the National Art Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona), but the church has come up with a clever way of showing people what it originally looked like: they project it onto the church’s apse.

If you time your visit right, you can watch a projected “show” that demonstrates how the original fresco would have been painted. I’ve never seen anything like it before!

Horseback riding

Our last day in the Pyrenees had us taking to the mountains on horseback. I LOVE horseback riding, and being able to do it in such a pretty setting was the perfect way to cap off the trip. The ride wasn’t easy (at least one of the bloggers on the trip was terrified the whole time), but I enjoyed every second of it.

Having only seen the city side of Spain previous to this, a trip into the Pyrenees was just what I needed to really get a feel for the diversity of this country. And now I’m convinced that Spain is one of my favorite countries in Europe!

Have you ever been to this part of Spain? If not, is it what you expected?

]]>About once a week, I get asked a question about my travel gear. Whether it’s the suitcase vs. backpack query, or someone asking what kind of camera I use, I’m used to fielding these questions with increasing frequency. (After all, everyone loves to peek inside a traveler’s bag.)

Since I update my gear from time to time, I thought now would be the perfect time to share another version of a travel gear post. Here’s everything I’m loving right this minute:

Travel Gear I Love Right Now

Packing:

I SWEAR by packing cubes these days, and I never go anywhere without them. It doesn’t matter if I’m traveling with a backpack or suitcase, I always organize my bag with packing cubes. By using these, I never have to dig through piles of clothing in my bag in order to find a particular shirt or pair of jeans – I just grab the packing cube of shirts or bottoms, and boom: easy access and no disorganized mess!

For trips when a backpack isn’t necessary, I’ve started using a convertible 60L Osprey pack. It has sturdy wheels on the bottom, but also comes with removable backpack straps, should you need them. I LOVE this bag – it’s the best of both worlds! – and I’ve been traveling exclusively with my Osprey for the past year.

As someone who travels with a lot of tech (camera, lenses, GoPro, laptop, and more), I’m always on the lookout for the *best* carry-on bag/daypack for all my valuable gear. I currently have an STM Drifter bag, but I have my eye on the Camsafe Venture V25 from Pacsafe right now. It has a dedicated section for a camera and lenses, and then a separate section for everything else. It also has all the anti-theft features that Pacsafe is known for, which draws me to it even more. Having owned two Pacsafe bags in the past, I know the quality of this bag won’t let me down. If it goes on sale today, I’m buying it!

Clothing / shoes:

Good for hiking or just walking around in a city, these lightweight Keens are my go-to if I don’t want to take sneakers but still want to have a shoe that will keep my toes protected. They make a version for men, too, so this suggestion isn’t just for the ladies!

Misc.:

We’ve all experienced questionable sleeping situations on the road. A silk sleep sheet is the answer – it acts like a lightweight sleeping bag, meaning you don’t have to actually touch those sketchy sheets or mattresses, and you can keep cool in any warm-weather camping situations. These also take up virtually NO space in your bag, making it a no-brainer to pack. I’m currently in the very early stages of planning a trip to Africa next year, and this is already on my packing list!

Traveling with a quick-dry towel is a must for most travelers (me included). I never go on long trips without mine. Even if I’m staying in a hotel where towels are provided, I tend to tuck one of these into my bag, just in case.

Electronics:

With 3 regular (US) outlets and 2 USB outlets, I never travel with out this surge protector. (It also comes in super handy when I find myself in a hotel room or hostel with too few wall outlets – it unfortunately happens more often than I’d like it to!)

When you use your smartphone, video camera, and other electronics a lot, you run through a lot of battery. I’ve started traveling with a portable charger to make sure I don’t run out of juice in the middle of the day, and this one is fantastic. It’s small and portable, but also very versatile with both USB ports and built-in connectors.

When you’re traveling to multiple countries/continents in the same trip, keeping all those outlet adapters organized can be a pain. Enter this awesome little adapter from Skross. It will work in all corners of the world, AND comes with built-in USB ports.

When I finally caved and bought a GoPro, I went for the Hero 4 Silver. Mostly because I didn’t need 4K video and I loved that it has a touchscreen on the back that lets you see what you’re filming/review shots afterwards. This little camera takes great video, and the widescreen angle ensures that you don’t miss anything in your shot.

Even though people don’t always believe me, I don’t travel with a fancy DSLR camera. Currently, I have an older-model Olympus PEN series camera that has served me well for a couple of years now. I love the photo quality of this compact camera so much that I’m planning to upgrade to an Olympus mirrorless in the OM-D line later this year (slightly more fancy than what I have now, but still small and mighty). I currently have my eye on either the OM-D E-M10, or the OM-D E-M5 Mark II – and if either one goes on sale today, I’m going to be snapping one up!

This of course isn’t an exhaustive list of everything I travel with (you can find that here), but these are the things that I’m loving right this minute.

What are some of YOUR favorite travel items that you never leave home without?

*Note: This post contains affiliate links. Meaning that if you buy something through these links, I’ll earn a small commission, which I use to help keep this site running! (But don’t worry, you won’t be charged any extra!)

]]>http://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/must-have-travel-gear/feed/14Stuff You Should Know About: July 2015http://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/stuff-you-should-know-about-july-2015/
http://www.dangerous-business.com/2015/07/stuff-you-should-know-about-july-2015/#commentsSun, 12 Jul 2015 16:05:35 +0000http://www.dangerous-business.com/?p=19889Welcome to the newest monthly feature on A Dangerous Business! It’s been (very creatively) named “Stuff You Should Know About” and will basically just...

]]>Welcome to the newest monthly feature on A Dangerous Business! It’s been (very creatively) named “Stuff You Should Know About” and will basically just be a collection of travel news, tips, photos, and other odds and ends that don’t really fit in anywhere else but that I still really want to share with you.

Random travel news

New UNESCO sites

This past week, UNESCO announced the addition of 27 new sites to its World Heritage sites list. These include places like Ephesus in Turkey, the Forth Bridge in Scotland, rock art in Saudi Arabia, and more. New sites span from France to Iran to Uruguay and many places in between. How many UNESCO sites have YOU visited?

Cool travel app/website of the month

I get a lot of emails every week — sometimes every day — about new travel apps and websites. I don’t write reviews very often about apps/websites (only the ones I really, really love), but some of them are still worth mentioning!

The tagline of this site/app is “discover how to get anywhere.” And that’s pretty much exactly what it does. You type in where you’re starting from and where you want to go, and Rome2Rio shows you all your transportation options, from planes to trains to taxis cabs (and sometimes even Ubers!). It shows you predicted prices and times for each route option, so it’s easy for you to figure out if a train, bus, ferry, or plane will be the cheapest/fastest for you to get from Point A to Point B.

Featured bloggers of the month

Check out July’s Featured Blogs:

Cailin O’Neil is an award-winning travel, video and food blogger. Over the last 6 years, Cailin has visited 47+ countries on four different continents. As she travels, she tastes everything from the very best to the very worst of foods, staying in $2,000 a night South African lodges to $20 a night hostels and everything in between filming and photographing everything as she goes for her popular travel blog TravelYourself.ca.

Holidays to Europe is a European travel blog run by Carolyn, an Australian who is passionate about all things European! Carolyn travels to Europe for two months each year to satisfy her love for the continent, re-visiting favorite haunts and discovering new ones. She shares her travel tips, secret finds and destination inspiration on the blog.

You should pack this

I SWEAR by packing cubes these days, and I never go anywhere without them. It doesn’t matter if I’m traveling with a backpack or suitcase – I always organize my bag with packing cubes.

By using these genius cubes, I never have to dig through piles of clothing in my bag in order to find a particular shirt or pair of jeans – I just grab the packing cube of shirts or bottoms, and boom: easy access and no disorganized mess!

If you’ve never tried organizing your bag with packing cubes before, I challenge you to give it a try. If you’re anything like me, you’ll fall in love and never go back to packing without them!

What I’m reading right now

Lastly, I love to read and am making a goal of reading MORE in 2015. Here’s what I’m currently reading:

This book by my friend Nomadic Matt is quickly turning into THE budget travel bible. In many parts of the world, budget travel on $50 a day (or less) is totally possible, and this book is a great place to start for anyone who wants to learn how to make that happen.

That’s it for this month’s edition of “Stuff You Should Know About!” Which section was your favorite this month?

*Note: There are some affiliate links in this post. If you buy through one of the links, you won’t be charged any extra, but I’ll earn a little bit to put towards running this site!